[Intro to Ganhwa Seon] 12. What is Enlightenment and What Do We Awaken to?

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Chapter 3. The Essentials of Ganhwa Seon Practice

2. What is Enlightenment and
What Do We Awaken to?

What is Enlightenment?

With Seon practice, we intend
to attain wisdom through body and mind, while the goal of meditation is
equanimity of our mind. Attaining wisdom is, in other words, putting wisdom
into practice, and also awakening to our true nature, which is eliminating the
sense of “oneself”. Turning oneself once filled with delusions into the one who
opens his or her eyes to the true nature within. Actual practice is
incorporated into the meaning of enlightenment, which is the very perfection of
attaining the truth.

Seon inherently includes the
meaning of cultivating (修禪) or practicing Seon (禪修行). The act performed in an attempt to attain
enlightenment is Seon. Seon puts strong emphasis on enlightenment more than any
other methods of Buddhist practice. It is safe to say that Seon practice
intends to attain enlightenment. As a matter of fact, enlightenment is
fundamentally reflected in essential doctrines of Buddhism. Motivated by the
aspiration for enlightenment, the Buddha decided to renounce the secular life (departing
from home 出家). Often, renouncement of the mundane world has been
regarded as the first step toward enlightenment.

With renouncing the secular
life being the beginning of enlightenment, attaining enlightenment is the
ultimate destination of the renouncement. This, in turn, gets through to the
beginning. Therefore, enlightenment is the first milestone to realize the
primary task or duty (本分事) of monastic life. That is how we put enlightenment
into practice. If enlightenment is about realizing oneself, putting
enlightenment into practice is incorporating enlightenment into what we do in
our society. This is how Seon practice is thoroughly absorbed in and out of
ourselves (內外明徹) in reality. Enlightenment without actual practice
ends up being a mere theory or philosophy.

Enlightenment can be attained
anytime and anywhere and by anyone, equally realized without any discrimination
and unfolding universally and continuously. It is because purity and equality
are the inherent characteristics and developments of enlightenment. Purity
means no attachment. It is not stuck to anything because it does not remain at
one point. In addition, enlightenment is universal as it can be attained by
anyone. Therefore, enlightenment can be likened to a widely opened gate, which
always welcomes those who are awakened to the truth, while being closed to
those not.

Enlightenment cannot be
attained through doctrines only. Rather, it is attainable through the harmony
between physical and mental practice. If it is only about mind, it will remain
as meditation and philosophy. Meanwhile, if it is just about techniques, it
will end up being mechanism. Finally, if it is attained only through physical
practice, it is just the act of arts and sports. However, Seon cannot be
achieved by individual factors of mind, body and techniques. In other words,
Seon requires physical practice as well as spiritual awakening to truth, while
also aiming at inspiring others with positive influence.

Characteristics of
Enlightenment

For Seon practitioners,
devoting themselves to ceaseless practice throughout their lifetime or even
many lifetimes to come is generally regarded common and natural. In addition,
Seon highlights attaining enlightenment of mind. Dazu Huike (慧可 487–593) became the Second Patriarch of Chinese Seon
school with transmission of Dharma of
mind (心法) from Bodhidharma. On the contrary, it is pointlessif one continues to physically train oneself without
actually understanding core principles of truth. As a matter of fact, it is not
too difficult to find “seemingly practitioners” who just sit and assume meditative
position, while not understanding true meaning of life and nature at all.

One of the factors that make
us truly human beings is the ability to attain enlightenment of mind. Our mind
can be enlightened by our own mind. With tranquil mind through meditation
practice of our body, this mind in turn makes our body conducive to
concentration. Therefore, practice of body and mind cannot be separated. It is
impossible to continue physical practice without cultivating mind. Likewise,
mind cannot be trained properly without assistance of body. It is all because
of the truth of “non-duality of body and mind (身心不二)”. One does not precede the
other. Body and mind are in work at the same time and at the same place. With
body being the container of mind, mind is the content of body. Neither body nor
mind can work if one of them is incomplete. It is like the relationship between
lantern and light. There cannot be light without a lantern, while a lantern
without light is no use. There is light when there is a lantern and the other
way around is true, too.

In addition, enlightenment in
Seon aims at dedicating merit to the benefit of all sentient beings. In fact,
the dedication of merit should be a precondition for achieving Buddhahood. The
dedication makes enlightenment truly enlightenment based on principles of Seon.
Without it, enlightenment is just pipe dream and empty achievement. As the
ultimate goal of Seon practice is attaining enlightenment that can actually
dedicate merit to liberating all beings from sufferings, practitioners should
not be complacent about nominal “enlightenment”. It is because the
characteristics of enlightenment are not entrapped into the name of
enlightenment but universally encompass and engage in history and the world we
live in. Enlightenment without universality is nothing but self-deception and
self-satisfaction.

Benefits of Enlightenment

Enlightened practitioners
sense the benefits of enlightenment both physically and mentally. The benefits,
however, cannot be formalized or customized, because they are universal to
everyone. Practitioners come to experience them naturally through continuous
practice. With the actual experience, truth of enlightenment becomes
internalized and inherent. This is very personal process, however, once truth
is transmitted to a practitioner, that enlightenment no longer belongs to
oneself. Enlightenment is equal. It is inherent in all beings originally and
the process of realizing it within oneself is what we call “enlightenment”. The
process of enlightenment cannot be replaced or vicariously accomplished by others
at all. It is one’s own trembling and vivid moment of awakening to truth, while
its benefits being dedicated to all sentient beings.

Effects of enlightenment are
no longer framed by practice. That is why Seon Master Linji said, “Wherever you
are, be your master (隨處作主); wherever you stand, stand on truth (立處皆眞).” Being “as you are” is
just enlightenment itself. Once a practitioner’s spiritual capability is
matured enough to be able to truly understand what Master Linji highlighted,
practice is not always a precondition for enlightenment. In a similar vein, not
engaging in practice does not mean enlightenment disappears. Enlightenment is
regardless of whether we practice or not. It transcends the boundary.

Another core characteristic of
enlightenment is purity. It means there is no attachment. In other words, it is
empty. Dependent origination and the middle way, which are based on emptiness,
are what practitioners aim to awaken to. As the two core principles for
enlightenment are empty, there is no room for attachment after enlightenment.
Not for discriminatory or distinguishing characteristics, either. Therefore,
strong wish to own tangible and visible outcomes is unnecessary. With no
attachment, every wish and every step is turned into the place of truth (實地). So, there is no pain from
wishing something special. As there is no pain, those who attain enlightenment
are free from all kinds of attachment.

Ganhwa Seon is the practice
that incorporates the principles of dependent origination and the middle way
into our lives not through superficial understanding but through concentration
on hwadu. The ultimate purpose of Ganhwa Seon practice is attaining
enlightenment right here and now and liberating oneself from all constraints.
With right enlightenment, we come to realize we are Buddha originally.

* Please note that this writing is an excerpt from the book, "Introduction to Ganhwa Seon" published by the Bureau of Dharma Propagation and it is contained in the autumn 2016 edition of the Lotus Lantern magazine under Buddhist Culture Section on page 16~22.